Bodies of two British diplomats flown from Istanbul

Published on Friday 28 November 2003 00:00

THE bodies of two British diplomats killed in last week’s suicide bomb attack against the British consulate in Turkey were flown home yesterday after a sombre ceremony at Istanbul’s international airport.

Turkish soldiers loaded the two coffins, each draped with a Union Jack, on to a Turkish military cargo plane for the trip to Britain. Istanbul’s governor, Muammer Guler, joined British diplomats for the religious ceremony at Ataturk Airport.

The British consul general, Roger Short, and his assistant, Lisa Hallworth, were killed last Thursday when a suspected Islamic militant rammed an explosive-laden pick-up truck into the main gate of the British consulate.

Ms Hallworth’s family accompanied the coffin on the flight.

Victoria Short, the widow of the British consul general, said yesterday she mourned all the dead and asked witnesses to come forward.

The attacks "were shocking acts of violence intended to kill innocent people, both British and Turkish. I mourn all the dead," she said in a written statement released by the British consulate.

"I would like to make a direct appeal to anyone who has any information about the bombings ... or about the people who planned and executed them. Please come forward and help stop another outrage from happening in Turkey," she said.

Four suicide bombings killed 61 people in attacks on two synagogues on 15 November and two other simultaneous bombings of the British consulate and a British bank five days later.

Britain closed its embassy in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, yesterday for security reasons, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Office said the "British Embassy in Sofia was closed for a couple of hours in the morning … due to a security alert. It reopened later that morning."